By Greg Odogwu
ABUJA, Nigeria (PAMACC News) - The government of Nigeria recently midwifed a contract agreement between the River Basin Develop­ment Authorities (RB­DAs) and the Songhai Nigeria Partnership Ltd. to generate 1,200 jobs nationwide in three years.

At the signing cer­emony, the country’s Minister of Water Re­sources, Engr. Sulei­man Adamu said the objective is to strengthen the RBDAs to become major economic nerve centres in line with the economic diversi­fication policy of the change agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government.


“These centres would be along the Songhai Farm settle­ment style, explor­ing the Public-private Partnership model in ownership and financ­ing while the RBDAs will be the primary de­livery vehicles. The main objec­tive of this scheme is massive job creation for youth with a year round agricultural production and other value chain activi­ties such as process­ing, storage, markets, e-commerce etc. Each of these centres will have a minimum of 50 graduate employees nationwide,” the min­ister said.

Regional Direc­tor of Songhai Farms, Fr Godfrey Nzamujo, at the event, said the programme is aimed at enhancing the capacity of the RBDAs and making Nigeria a sustainable developed country.

Considering that Songhai Farms is an institution started for integrated agriculture, one wonders what a ministry of water resources is doing with Songhai. It is either things have really “changed” in Nigeria’s governance, or there is an aspect of water management many laymen do not know about. Or both.

By the way, I for one, remember that the founder of the Songhai Farms was refused land for his agricultural dreams many years ago in his native country of Nigeria, before he relocated to Benin to try making his vision a reality.

Or, perhaps, it is time to look at some new home truth: The Ministry of Water Resources may be the most important ministry in Nigeria today. People may easily miss this point, understandably because of the politics that shrouds issues in developing economies; and because its budget is relatively small.

But the truth is that without water resources ministry, there could be no agricultural and environmental sustainability. And in a government that has economic diversification as its mantra, this is like sculpting an iron statue with mud feet.

In any case, it is telling that all through the years after this Nigerian ministry was created in 1976, subsequent governments kept merging and demerging it from “major” ministries. The government’s double-mindedness on this key institution may therefore be the singular reason it is yet to get it right in food security and economic diversification.

Now, consider this. The Food and Agriculture Organisation projected that Nigeria’s population has exceeded the carrying capacity of its land resources when cultivated at the low level of technology, that is, at the current level of rain-fed farming and almost-zero irrigation practice.

In other words, Nigeria cannot feed its teeming population without modern Water Resources management structure and infrastructure.

Secondly, with the onslaught of climate change on every region of the world, what would happen if the country were hit by drought? How would its citizens get back on their feet without robust water management initiatives?

Let it also be noted that it was the 1972 – 74 droughts in Nigeria that prompted the creation of the country’s River Basin Development Authorities and the Ministry of Water Resources to manage them. The drought was described by many as the worst ever, and the shock rattled the then Supreme Military Council to promulgate decree 25 of 1976 in a swift move to develop and manage Nigeria’s water resources. It gave birth to 11 RBDAs to harness them and optimize its agricultural potentials for food sufficiency.

To me, the primary job of the ministry of water resources is to – in my own words – “ensure that the foundation is laid for economic diversification; and also that the fabrics of the polity are strongly held together come hell or high water!”

This is because without water resources management, diversification of the economy towards sustainable agriculture shall turn to a mirage. What is more, without water resources management, diversification towards solid minerals and mining might just turn out to be a disaster waiting to happen.

The National Water Resources Master Plan estimates that Nigeria has about 3.14 million hectares of irrigable land, out of which only 130,000ha has been developed under formal irrigation and only 70,000ha is actually being irrigated. There have been several reports with the same conclusion that Nigeria’s RBDAs are a failure, with all of them performing abysmally below expectation while wasting tax payers’ money.

It is against this background that one could appreciate the efforts of Nigeria’s Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman Adamu, in the past seven months since he was appointed.

He has initiated a number of strategic projects to ensure a robust water sector; but the one that easily catches the attention is his initiative in the sustainable management of the nation’s river basins.

Immediately he was sworn in late last year, he organized a retreat for all stakeholders and practitioners in the sector which culminated in the setting up of a Committee to produce a Blueprint and Action Plan for the repositioning of the RBDAs.

This is why, as the outcome of months of studies and consultations, the Federal Government signed the contract agreement between the RBDAs and Songhai Nigeria Partnership Limited on the establishment of Songhai model integrated agricultural scheme to boost food production in the nation’s RBDAs.

However, the most ambitious of Engr. Adamu’s strategies is the partial commercialization of the RBDAs, as he also inaugurated a Steering Committee of the National Council on Privatization for this purpose.

It is also particularly heartwarming to learn of the minister’s vision of transforming Nigeria’s RCBAs into a venture like that of USA’s Tennessee Valley Authority.

TVA is an American miracle, which saves millions of dollars of tax payers’ money because it runs by itself. It was designed to modernize Tennessee Valley which was economically and ecologically in tatters during the Great Depression.

With this initiative, the region was revitalized. TVA developed fertilizers, taught farmers ways to improve crop yields and helped replant forests, control forest fires, and improve habitat for fish and wildlife. The most dramatic change in Tennessee Valley life came from TVA –generated electricity. Electricity made life easier for farmers and also drew industries into the region, providing desperately needed jobs.

Therefore, bearing in mind that the Water Resources Minister also recently submitted the ministry’s Masterplan to the President; and its Water Resources Bill to the National Assembly; and is working on a roadmap that will span to 2030, one expects that Nigeria’s River Basins are on their way to recovery, and the nation on its way to real economic diversification.

On a final note, it would be suggested that other ministries of water resources in other countries of Africa embrace the Songhai model, especially as we create a process for proper adaptation to climate change.
As Shongai Farms puts it in its website: “The future of Africa lies in its lands, its climate, and its agricultural work, which is so poorly appreciated in the continent today. At Songhai, we want to restore nobility to farm work that helps young people choose not to suffer and to provide service in creating wealth for their families, their countries, and their continent, through a functional training based on knowledge, skills, and a value system.”

By David Njagi
MERU, Kenya  – Ngai Mutuoboro, 70, may not wield the vibrancy of his youthful days, but he can still pack a punch when it comes to environmental conservation.

The elder from Tharaka Nithi County in upper eastern Kenya, has been arrested, harassed and even lost a member of his community group, for agitating against illegal exploitation of Mt. Kenya forest by pwerful politicians.

At his shanty structure in Kibubua village which flanks the forest to the east, Mutuoboro keeps a collection of documents that show the kind of human rights abuses environmental groups like his, face, when they lobby against politicians involved in illegal logging at one of the biggest water towers in Kenya.

“This is where we were camped last Christmas to protest against illegal tree harvesting at the Kiamuriuki part of Mt. Kenya forest,” he says, showing a local newspaper clip that captured the event. “I was arrested along with 19 of my colleagues by security officers.”

Mutuoboro belongs to the Atiriri Bururi ma Chuka community group that has been agitating for the conservation of the forest since Kenya attained independence.

But despite such efforts, well financed politicians allegedly bribe the local forestry office to continue exploiting the forest – and to curtail Kenyans like him.

Early March this year, three of his colleagues were patrolling part of the forest that is widely deforested, when security officers assailed them. One was shot dead, while the other two sustained bullet wounds in the stomach.

“They accused my colleagues of being in the forest illegally yet the Atiriri Bururi ma Chuka is recognized by the government as a community group that lobbies for the conservation of Mt. Kenya forest,” he observes.

Mutuoboro’s is just but a pinch, of the kind of pressure environment groups are facing in Kenya, following recent efforts to censure the civil society movement in the east African country.

Some, like Mutuoboro’s, have been accused of being community militant groups. More have been accused of money laundering, tax evasion and terrorism. Yet others have been accused of being espionage fronts for foreign powers.

The government is even playing the arm twisting card by accusing Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) of failing to account for donor funding. It has led to an attempt to put a 15 per cent cap on all foreign funding CSOs receive.

All these accusations are meant to justify the deregistering of targeted civil society groups, according to human rights groups.

“We have had a situation where our staff were evicted after CSOs were accused of being espionage assets by politicians,” says Alexandra Chege, the information coordinator at Oxfam GB. “That is why we are even being targeted by the militia group al shabaab.”

The resolve to censure the civil society is no anomaly to unscrupulous politicians, but the extent at which it is leaving a rough patch on Kenya’s fragile ecosystem is a glaring anomaly.  

At the Mt. Kenya forest, a strip of 24,000 acres of land is facing serious politically linked timber logging. In some parts of the forest, aerial images in Mutuoboro’s possession show stretches of land the size of a football field that have been stripped of tree cover.

But it is not Mt. Kenya alone that is feeling the sting of the CSOs censure. The government has declared its intention to excise some 17,000 hectares of land at the Mau forest.

Patches of land in sacred forests like the Kaya in Kenya’s coastal region are being illegally allocated to private developers.

“Community forest conservation groups are the most vulnerable to political manipulation because they are not well informed about the law,” observes Harriet Gichuru of Nature Kenya, whose organization has established a payment for ecosystem services in central Kenya to protect the groups.

But even with such protection, the civil society has not been spared the political offensive. Lately, hostile groups like the al shabaab have discovered their weakened state and are exploiting it to their fill.

In parts of lower eastern Kenya and the northern region where insecurity has left communities vulnerable to militia activity, charcoal burning is stripping the region of its rangeland vegetation.
In lower Eastern Kenya alone, at least 12,000 bags of charcoal with a 90 kilogramme capacity are generated everyday, according to the Kenya Climate Change Network (KCCN).

The local administration has linked the widespread charcoal burning to poor CSO presence due to insecurity. Its officials also say there is high demand for charcoal by the militia group al shabaab.

In 2013, the UN Monitoring Group on Somalia annual report estimated that al shabaab’s charcoal exports to the Middle East could be as high as 24 million sacks per year, netting an overall international market value of $ 360 to $ 384 million.  

“Eastern and Northern Kenya are potential sources of charcoal due to insecurity and a porous border with Somalia,” says Joseph Ngondi, an official with KCCN.   
In January this year, the US and Kenya governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to help the eastern Africa country fight environmental crime.
The US Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell, while officiating the signing of the MOU said part of the agreement would improve technology in surveillance to reduce crimes like charcoal trafficking.

“Land cover and satellite imagery is very helpful when it comes to understanding what is happening with illegal logging and deforestation for whatever purposes, whether it is for the export of lumber or charcoal,” said Jewell.

But such advances in technology may not fix the civil society’s jinx, argues George Awalla, the head of programmes at VSO Jitolee, Kenya.

In Awalla’s view, CSOs are established for a purpose, which is largely to take sides with those who are poor and marginalized.   

According to him, CSOs should stay true to the humanitarian narrative, although there could be some that may be flipping their roles.

“The foreign powers also have interests in what happens within Kenya for selfish reasons and also because they know that if they can infiltrate this set up then they will divide the voice of the citizenry,” argues Awalla.

According to him, the Kenya NGOs Coordination Board (KNCB) needs to continue being vigilant to ensure that there are mechanisms in place to weed out CSOs that are suspected to be doing espionage or supporting some activities that are not acceptable within the society set up.

“There should be transparency and honesty in these matters so that we do not have a vendetta and pick it through the whole mechanism of coordinating CSOs,” he says.

At the KNCB, it is unlikely that a visitor will be treated well by the General Service Unit officers who keep sentry there. On a normal day the Board receives thousands of clients seeking for services.

Scola, an official who works there says the Board’s mandate is to register CSOs. But she also says there is an investigative department which keeps vigil on rogue and genuine CSOs.

In the few years that she has worked there, she says, the investigation department has deregistered a few CSOs for allegedly being involved in questionable activities.

“The government of Kenya supports the civil society movement,” says Scola. “We act according to investigations which identify genuine CSOs and the rogue ones.”  

The Kenya Parliamentary Committee on Environment, Water and Natural Resources is cautious to deny or acknowledge there could be CSOs in Kenya involved in questionable activities.

But its chairperson, Amina Abdallah, argues that the 2013 Public Benefits Organization Act (PBOA), which among others, recognizes the establishment of CSOs, protects genuine civil society movement in Kenya.

“The PBOA and the Constitution safeguards the due process in any allegation,” Argues Abdalla. “Whoever has been accused of any sabotage activity will have their day in court and prove whether they are right or wrong.”

 That may appear like a farfetched possibility to peasants like Mutuoboro. According to him, community conservation groups are at their lowest point in Kenya.

But Ikal Angelei, the founder of the Friends of Lake Turkana CSO, argues a legislation, like a Climate Change Bill, would place conservation and environmental groups at their perch.

By her estimation, a climate change policy would ensure that the development and interventions that the government, both National and County make, would take care about the communities’ engagement in conservation.

“For me it is important to have a climate change policy and any framework that will enable both National and County governments to be held accountable for any developments that they take into account, whether it is National or County, and whether it conforms with the expectations of the society.”

For now, it will take real government’s intervention for voices like Mutuoboro’s to be heard. But if past patterns are anything to go by, the politician’s might, may carry the day.

And Mutuoboro, just like many other marginalized Kenyans, will continue to voice communities’ expectations on how their resources should be managed.

“There is an emerging phenomenon called climate change,” observes Angelei. “It means that the government must give local communities the freedom to manage their resources. It is something we are watching whether with the government’s censure or not.”

By David Njagi
NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - The noose is tightening around rogue enterprises which have turned Kenya’s cities and towns into smoke canopies.

An air quality control regulation that the National Environment Authority (NEMA) launched last year will soon enable the agency to fit vehicles and industries with a pollutant unit to monitor their volume of exhaust smoke.

“We are going to stick the unit on vehicles and industries valid for two years to find out if the owner is polluting,” explains Prof. Geoffrey Wakhungu, director general NEMA. “The ones found to be polluting will be forced to dump the dirty asset or find ways to clean it up.”


NEMA has partnered with Kenya Bureau of Standards, Energy Regulatory Commission, Kenya Ports Authority and the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) to launch this project as part of Kenya’s commitment to grow into a green economy.

But the crackdown on air pollution is not confined to cities alone. According to Prof. Wakhungu, the air pollution control project is a devolved function that involves the participation of county governments.

“We are also going to work with counties,” he explains. “Each of the counties will have a testing center which will be working with the central one for the purpose of setting standards.”

Rob De Jong, UNEP’s head of transport unit estimates that air pollution will become worse by 10 per cent relative to the current levels in the next five years.

A report released during the ongoing United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) lists motor transport, small scale manufacturing, burning solid fuel and coal fired plants as the largest contributors to urban outdoor air pollution.

The report, Actions on Air Quality, estimates that road transport emits 30 per cent of particulates in European cities and up to 50 per cent of emissions within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.

“UNEP is urging countries to do more on air quality control by engaging in the air quality control programme,” says De Jong.

Meanwhile, UNEP is testing seven air quality control devices that will be connected to GPS to continually monitor air quality in many locations.

UNEP executive director, Achim Steiner, says in many cities across the world people do not know the air quality status because of poor infrastructure.

“UNEP is working to ensure the cost of technology is lowered to make air quality monitoring affordable,” says Steiner.

Road transport accounted for 50 per cent of the health costs including death and illness in OECD countries due to air pollution in 2010, says the report.    

In January, NEMA released one billion Kenya shillings to 14 counties as part of the national adaptation programme.

But more funds are expected in the next few months if a proposal that NEMA has placed to the Green Climate Fund goes through.

“It has taken us about two years to get the Adaptation Fund,” explains Prof. Wakhungu. “We want to raise money in a structured manner that it can actually be used for the benefit of communities.”